WordPlay, Young Chicago Authors’ ten year old open mic and workshop series, kicks off the Fall season with Finish artist-organiser, Andrew Gryf Paterson.  WordPlay is an open space for teen writers, rhymers, and performers to showcase their work to peers and the public.  Each session begins with an hour-long writing workshop, led by a working writer who specializes in topic, genre, or form. 

This month the challenge will be based on turning writer’s myspace profiles into spoken word texts. Over the sessions, the workshop has discussed popular online sites such as MySpace, asking ‘MySpace, YourSpace, WhoseSpace is it?’  Words such as networking, extension, synergy and franchise are part of the workshop’s inquisitive vocabulary. What is private, intimate, friendly, fiesty, public and performance?  How do all these words inter-relate and mingle when we post and link online, stand-up, ‘spit knowledge’ or ‘poetically jam’? This workshop’s efforts are ongoing; to find out more go online.

Andrew Gryf Paterson was born in Falkirk, Scotland, and is now based in Helsinki, Finland. His artist-organiser practice involves working in variable roles of initiator, participant, author and curator, according to different collaborative and cross-disciplinary projects. Recently, he says, these roles have operated inbetween the fields of media / network / environmental activism and socially-engaged arts.  Presenting this workshop was part of Paterson’s “residency project” within the Stockyard Institute’s two-month Pedagogical Factory.

WordPlay is free and open to writers and performers of all ages.

Recorded Tuesday, September 18, 2007 at Young Chicago Authors.